I just want to make clear that I am not against reserved parking for disabled drivers, no reasonable person would be, but I am against an apparent excess of disabled spaces, particularly in car parks which are frequently full.
It has always seemed to me that there appear to be too many disabled parking spaces, but I accept the word "appear" is significant here. However, as mentioned on a separate thread, I did once do some research on one particular car park (Ponds Forge Sports Centre - Sheffield) I use frequently and which is often full with cars circulating looking for spaces. Over the course of a few months each time I went, 2 or 3x a week, I counted the number of Blue Badge permit cars in the disabled spaces, it didn`t take long, they`re all in the same area. It averaged just under 3, the most ever was 6. There are 16 (that`s sixteen) disabled spaces in PF car park. These are facts. I have to say was annoyed that the management weren`t bothered and appalled that they tried to insinuate I was anti disabled.
In the case of Ponds Forge the explanation appears to be that Sport England recommend 10% of car park spaces are reserved for disabled drivers. I`d very much like to know what real world research, if any, was done by them to come up with that 10% figure.
I suspect that many other cases of excessive numbers of disabled spaces are caused by inaccurate planning rules. Has anyone else any input on this ?

Disabled people using a sports centre?

How very dare they?

I shpuld imagine that the sports centre would know what proportion of their membership is classed as having a disability and have allowed for that in their parking.

Our local Sainsbury has a huge car park which is often virtually full other than there are always more than just a few disabled and mother child bays empty.

Parking quite often is determined at the planning stage, generally its 5-6%. I'd imagine they'd want 10% so that people wouldn't be put off by not being able to get a spot and that may be even a part of some sponsorship deal.

I wish there were more parent child bays at my local supermarkets, we often struggle to get one. Although it would help if parents didn't take the piss and use the bays when they have close to teenage kids.

IMO there aren't enough, in our local supermarkets there are about 10 and they are always full, we hardly ever get to use one, making it very difficult to get out 2 autistic children from the car to the shop.

Our local shopping centre has two floors in the car park and has 4 on each level, we rarely get one of those either.

No, they should do away with them, they're just a marketing gimmick - nothing more, nothing less.

I don`t think it`s anything to do with that, and if it was then the Ponds Forge management don`t know what the hell they`re doing, certainly if my research is anything to go by . It`s about planning guidelines. Interestingly the Sport England figure planning guideline of 10% disabled parking differs markedly form the Sheffield City Council figure. This is from memory, but the council figure is something like 2% plus 2 spaces, which gave a figure of 6 for the PF car park. Going by my research that would be spot on. This then raises even more questions about where Sport England`s 10% figure comes from.

There are twice as many mother and baby spaces in our Sansburys as there are disabled spaces, I dont mind them being there, but they do not need to be right by the door, they could be further away to allow for more blue badge spaces.

Err, no they`re not. I admit that before having kids I thought that. Have you tried getting a child out of his/her car seat in the limited amount of room offered by the standard car park spaces ? Sometimes it`s impossible, at other times you just risk a back injury.....
As regards where the parent/child spaces are, that`s slightly less important, but I`m sure we`d all rather not have kids crossing roads if we can avoid it, wouldn`t we ?

That said, this is a bit off topic really.

The thing is a sports centre could be running wheelchair basketball for example and thats a lot of disabled spots required and 10% probably is whats required if you want sponsorship from them as part of their t&c's.

I find them very useful. To get a baby out of a car seat requires you to open the door pretty much fully, which is often impossible in a conventional sized bay. Why do you think they're just a gimmick?

As well as disabled bays, my local Park and Ride has a row of spaces for electric vehicles. I have never seen one occupied. The disabled bays are also little used which is not really surprising when you consider how a Park and Ride works.

In the town centre, disabled bays near the shops are usually fully occupied.

While disabled bays in sensible locations are clearly needed, applying quotas to unsuitable car parks is inefficient.

I daresay they do employ a spot of statistics before marking the bays out. In places were there are a lot of older people, you find more disabled bays. In places full of young families the emphasis is on parent and child. One case where market forces work quite well.

Surely there should always be more disabled spaces than there are people using them, so that disabled people can always find a space. This isn't as important for people without disabilities as they can get to the sports centre or wherever by other means or by car-sharing.

Because there is no legal requirement to have them. If you want more room then park somewhere (no doubt further from the shop door) where there are spare bay(s) you can utilise.

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Should supermarkets, etc. do away with all their 'gimmicks' or just the ones that you don't see the need for?

The only way to do that would be to make all car park spaces disabled only just incase a 1000 disabled drivers fancy to all visit the same place at the same time?

No.

I guess that settles that...

I know there's no legal requirement, but they are very useful, hardly just a gimmick. I have no desire to be close to the shop door, just to be able to get a baby and pushchair in/out of the car safely. I could park further away in a normal bay, but how do I know someone won't park next to me, making it unsafe to get my baby back in the car?

I don't really care, just pointing out that's what they are and that they're not a god given or legislative right.

Or just use a bit of common sense.

Who said they were?

Most people appreciate having something that makes life a bit easier, be it P&C spaces, express checkouts, click and collect and so on.

The statement said there always should be one more space available always. Without knowing the maximum number of people who are disabled who will turn up at the same time you could never work that out other than to say that making them all disabled is the only way to achieve the stated end.

If, once in a blue moon, they have an event on where more disabled spaces are needed there is nothing to stop them form temporarily reinstating the spaces as reserved for disabled users. Ponds Forge have even less excuse for not doing this as their car park has a concrete pillar next to every space, perfect for affixing a "Temporary Disabled Parking Space" notice on !